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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377073">The Right Thing To Do</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgn846/pseuds/bgn846'>bgn846</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Being A Parent, Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, F3S, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:48:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgn846/pseuds/bgn846</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Noct and Gladio are learning to be friends after he'd saved Iris from getting lost in the gardens.  Despite their progress, no one bothered to see if Regis and Clarus had come to terms with what had happened.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clarus Amicitia &amp; Regis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia &amp; Noctis Lucis Caelum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Right Thing To Do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragewerthers/gifts">ragewerthers</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I received a nice prompt from my friend ragewerthers for some light angst...  Regis and Clarus seem to be arguing about something and everyone can feel the tension. No one has seen or heard the argument, but there's a definite chilliness around them now. Noct and Gladio try to figure out this mystery and how to fix it!</p><p>Noct is 10<br/>Gladio is 14<br/>Iris is 6 (She's only mentioned tho)</p><p>I hope you all enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Did you talk to your dad yet?” Gladio inquired with a huff as he got ready for Noct to advance once more.  The prince ran at him, and their wooden training swords clacked together loudly.  The kid was getting better. Despite only being ten years old, Noct was able to take some fairly advanced training classes.  </p><p>“Nah, what good would it do?” Noct replied in between breaths as he stepped back.  “Why?”</p><p>“Uh – well I think something might be off between our dads.”</p><p>Noct scrunched his face up. “What do you mean off?  They work together all the time, I’m sure everything’s fine.”</p><p>Gladio shook his head and winced.  There was something more going on behind the scenes. </p><p>“Did you tell your dad?” Noct finally asked in return.</p><p>“Iris made me promise not to.  She’s scared he’ll be mad at her.” Gladio sighed.  “I’m really grateful you were able to help her earlier this week.  I’m sorry I had you pegged wrong.”</p><p>The youth simply shrugged in response, but Gladio could see a dusting of pink on his cheeks.  If the prince hadn’t found Iris after she’d gotten lost, he didn’t want to think of what could have happened to his little sister.  Noct truly had saved the day, but none of them had known.  Upon their return Noct had taken full responsibility for leading Iris into the gardens.  Despite it being her fault entirely.  It wasn’t until later that night that his sister had come to him in tears and confessed.      </p><p>Needless to say Gladio had to rethink his opinion of Noct.  Things had been steadily improving since Gladio had confronted him about the truth.  However, it appeared that neither of them had informed their dads of this new information. </p><p>“So what do you think is going on with them?” Noct asked tilting his head curiously. </p><p>“I dunno, but when I saw my dad this afternoon he looked pissed.  I waved at him but he sorta scowled at me and kept going.”</p><p>“Has he ever done that before?”</p><p>“Only when I’m in deep shit.”</p><p>“Huh – that’s really weird. We should go spy on them and see if we can figure out what’s up.”</p><p>Gladio vigorously shook his head no. “If we get caught, that’ll make em’ even madder.”</p><p>“Pfffft, don’t be a chicken.  It’s good training, learning how to sneak up on people.”</p><p>Noct had to eventually order him to do it.  At least this way, he could claim he’d been following orders from the crown prince.  Unfortunately, Gladio wasn’t really prepared for what they would discover.  In all of his time visiting the citadel and seeing his dad and the king together, he’d never heard them yell at each other. Thankfully there was no visual to go with the shouting.  Noct and he were crouched outside the locked service door to the king’s office.  The guard on duty simply nodded when he saw them approach. Clearly the man didn’t want trouble with the pair and ambled away out of sight. </p><p>Gladio kept checking to see if he’d come back down the hallway, but he never reappeared.  They had a private, front row seat to the carnage.   Straining to hear, they desperately tried to understand what both men were fighting over.   Noct seemed visibly upset as they continued to listen.</p><p>“We can go,” Gladio whispered, “I’m not enjoying this much either.”</p><p>“Don’t you want to know what they’re arguing about?” Noct replied softly. </p><p>“Yeah, but this isn’t very much fun, this sucks actually,” he huffed quietly.</p><p>Noct winced but finally nodded in agreement.  The moment the prince righted himself to walk away; Regis yelled something loud enough to be clearly heard. </p><p>“What about your son?!” The king nearly screamed. </p><p>He must have wandered closer to the door since his voice was louder now. Panicking Gladio grabbed Noct to bolt, should the door start to open.  Nothing happened.</p><p>After a moment the king continued.  “Did you even ask him why he wasn’t with her?”</p><p>“Don’t you dare!” Clarus bellowed.  “I will not have you sully my sons name because yours can’t follow the rules!”</p><p>Gladio and Noct looked at each other with wide eyes.  They were arguing over them!</p><p>“That’s not the point!” The king growled suddenly causing the pair to turn back to the door.  “How many times has she met Noctis?  She simply ran off with him no questions asked.  That’s strange.”</p><p>“Regis she’s six, what do you expect her to do.”</p><p>“Have been taught better.” Was the angry response that filtered through the door.</p><p>That statement seemed to unsettle the prince even more.  Gladio was helpless to stop him when Noct balled up his fists, and began banging on the door frantically.  “Quit it!  What are you doing?” He sputtered reaching out to grab his arms.</p><p>“That’s not fair!” Noct huffed, “your sister didn’t do anything wrong!  Dad can’t say that!”</p><p>Some part of Gladio thought maybe if they ran for it, no one would know it was them.  He didn’t have time to process that thought when the door flung open revealing the king’s shield.  The man sucked in a breath to speak, but Noct cut him off.</p><p>“Iris didn’t do anything wrong!” He blurted with conviction.  Side stepping his dad Noct came to a halt directly in front of the king.  “You can’t say bad things about her dad, she didn’t do anything wrong.”</p><p>“What is the meaning of this?” Regis ground out, clearly about to lose his temper even further.</p><p>“I was only trying to help!” Noct wailed, “Gladio tell them the truth.”</p><p>Gladio wanted to stay in the hallway but his dad reached out and manhandled him into the space.  The door was swiftly shut and locked behind him.  Damn, no turning back now.  “Uh – Iris came to me the other night to confess.”</p><p>“Confess what?” Clarus asked with narrowed eyes. </p><p>“She was the one who wandered off first, Noct noticed and went to help her get back when she got lost outside the garden.”  This admission effectively shut both adults up.  They merely stood in place blinking stupidly at each other.  “Please don’t fight over this.” Gladio begged.  “Noct and I are good now.”</p><p>“She was chasing a cat,” Noct added, “She just wanted to see it up close.”  </p><p>“Astrals be damned.” Clarus grumbled.  “Why didn’t she tell me?”</p><p>“She was scared you’d be mad.  Guess she was right.” Gladio lamented.  </p><p>That comment made the man groan as he stepped back to sit down.  “So that’s it, our kids decide to act more civilized than us for a change.”</p><p>“Why lie?” Regis finally asked with a sigh. </p><p>“You all seemed so upset and Iris looked like she was going to cry.  She didn’t do it on purpose.” Noct supplied with a small shrug.  “I felt bad so I thought if I could take the blame it would make things better.  Guess I was wrong.” He slipped in while casting a quick glance to Gladio. </p><p>The kid was a quick learner, even when it came to guilt tripping your parents.  Gladio for the first time could see a future with Noct as his friend, and not as a burden. They had to survive this first adventure before he would call it a real win. </p><p>“Now what?” The king murmured as he walked over to the sofa and sat down. “We’ve said some not so nice things to each other, old man.” He added looking over at Clarus.</p><p>Clarus huffed out a small shaky laugh.  “That we have.” Pausing he turned to look at Noct directly. “I do believe a thank you is in order for the hero.  You have my gratitude for taking care of my daughter, highness.”</p><p>Noct blushed at the comment and bowed his head.  “Of course.”</p><p>“I believe we have some things to discuss in private.” Regis announced solemnly after a moment. </p><p>“Why don’t you two use the front door this time.”</p><p>Gladio hurriedly went to usher Noct away and towards the door.  They were so close to escaping and being free. </p><p>“Before you go,” Regis mused.  “Would either of you care to elaborate on what you were doing spying on us?”</p><p>Gladio was preparing to answer the question as nicely as he could when Noct simply threw both adults under the bus again. </p><p>“Gladio thought Clarus was mad at him for something so we decided to check on you two to figure out how to fix it.”</p><p>Clarus groaned again from his seat, and leaned forward cradling his head with both hands. “Okay, I’ve heard enough, you can go.  Please leave before you make me feel worse.” </p><p>“You’re not the only one feeling bad my friend,” offered Regis with a knowing look. </p><p>Not wasting their second chance, Gladio practically hurled Noct from the room once they’d bowed and said goodbye.</p><p>“Do you think they will be better now?” Noct asked with trepidation. </p><p>“Six, I hope so.  Did you see how upset they were? Ten gil says they have already opened a bottle of whiskey.” </p><p>“Good, that means it worked.”</p><p>“How would you know that?” Gladio asked with surprise.</p><p>“I see the left over glasses on dad’s desk sometimes.  Then he’s usually not as uptight after that.”</p><p>Shaking his head  in amusement Gladio  suddenly thought of something else. “Should we warn Iris that her secret is out of the bag?”</p><p>“That probably makes sense,” agreed Noct.  “Can we use your cell phone?”</p><p>“Yeah let’s go!” </p><p>“She’s not gonna cry is she?” Noct worried.</p><p>“Nah, she’ll be okay, trust me.  She doesn’t like keeping things from dad.  Besides a chance to talk to her crush will more than make up for it.” </p><p>“Huh?” Noct sputtered. “What do you mean crush?”</p><p>Turning to look at the prince, Gladio smiled wolfishly.  “You’re her knight in shining armor, you rescued her remember.”</p><p>   </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Check me out on tumblr if you want.  Just mostly FFXV stuff with some random dribbles.  <a href="https://bgn846.tumblr.com/">BGN846 Blog</a></p><p>or Twitter  <a href="https://twitter.com/BGN846?lang=en"> BGN846 Twitter</a></p><p>Please don't copy or plagiarize my work.  Thanks!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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